Life or Death
by NiennaAngel
Summary: Standing on a bridge Max decides whether life is really worth living or not. TalaMax. Rated for language. I wrote angst... I'm losing it.


Okay, I was going to write a different oneshot, but I ran into writer's block. Oh well. This one actually turned our rather well. I hope you enjoy it enough to review! Thank you!

_blah_ thoughts

**blah** past events/speach

* * *

Max stared at the setting sun completely heartbroken. There was nothing he could do to change the situation, but that didn't stop it from hurting more than anything he had ever experienced._ I've lost everything. My family, my friends, they're never going to speak to me again. I don't know what to do. How can they ask me to choose? How can they expect me to make that decision? How do you pick between the love of your life and your family and friends? How can I give him up for them? How can I give them up for him? Am I destined to be alone? Will I never be able to be happy? I wish I understood them. I wish they could explain to me why it's so wrong. He's their friend too! We've all been friends for years and my parents don't like him, but they don't hate him either! I don't get it!_ Tears began to pool in ocean depths as Max thought more and more about the confrontation between his family and friends and himself. He honestly hadn't expected them to react so badly to his relationship. Luckily his boyfriend hadn't been around to hear the hurtful things that had come out of their mouths. Max knew that it would have sent his boyfriend over the edge and made him do something he would end up regretting. 

**"You'll have to choose Max. It's us, your family and friends, or him."**

Max swiped at the tears that were blurring his vision and making the sunset swim. It had been hard to hear that from his mother. He'd always striven to make her happy and proud of him and now he knew that he was completely disappointing her. _There's no way to please her and myself. There's no middle ground here. There's no compromise that will make us both happy. This is the end. One of us will forever be unhappy after this decision._

**"I don't know how to make it any clearer that we don't approve of your relationship."**

_Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Whoever came up with that is an idiot. It's the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever heard. Words hurt more than anything else because words last longer. An action can be forgotten and forgiven, but harsh words become engrained in your mind and soul never to be forgotten and never truly forgiven. Words cut deeper than any stick or stone. Words destroy you from within._

**"He'll only hurt you in the end. He's probably just stringing you along."**

_How can you know that? How can you possibly know what he feels for me? How can you possibly understand a relationship you just found out about? How can you possibly know? The tears were falling freely from his eyes as soft sobs began to shake his body. You hurt me so badly. How can I trust you not to do that again? How can I believe you'll ever be truly happy for me when you won't allow me this? How can you deny me his love when it's the best thing to ever happen to me?_

**"He's not good for you."**

_You have no idea what's good for me! If you did you'd know that he's perfect for me. He's the only reason I've survived as long as I have! He's the only reason I haven't jumped off this bridge yet! He's the only reason I bother to smile anymore. What would you do if you knew you drove me to suicide? What would you say if you knew he was the one who saved me? What would you think if you knew that my car accident wasn't an accident, but a suicide attempt? Would you do, say, think anything or would you just pity me and ship me off to the nearest mental institute? I'm not crazy. I don't need to be locked up. It's all your fault I'm like this. It's all your fault that I'm considering jumping right now. It's because of him that I don't. It's because I know he would never forgive me that I stay here on the sidewalk. I stay because I can't hurt him like that. I stay here on Earth because I love him, but you don't understand that. You'll never understand that!_

**"You'll have to choose Max. It's us, your family and friends, or him. I don't know how to make it any clearer that we don't approve of your relationship. He's not good for you. He'll only hurt you in the end. He's probably just stringing you along. He doesn't truly love you"**

"What's your choice Max? Have you decided?" Max whirled around to face the intruders. His friends and family stood facing him watching for a reaction. Ocean eyes darted around to see who was there. He recognized everyone from the confrontation, but there was another face on the other side of the street that Max was happy to see. _Yes, I am happy to see him standing there. He's scared though. He knows what's going on. He knows that I have to choose and that if I don't choose him I'll give up and fall off this bridge._ "Max."

"You're asking more than you realize. If I choose you I won't live much longer. I won't be able to cope with the world, with you, for much longer. I'll be dead at my own hands in such a short time. If I choose him I'll be broken, but he'll put me back together. It's what he does best. He takes the broken and scattered pieces of my mind, heart and soul and puts them back together so that I can feel whole again. I can't choose you because I don't want to die. I want to live and experience life as it is meant to be experienced. I can't do that with you because I can't live around you. I can only truly live when I'm with him. I choose him over everything." Max crossed the street and threw his arms around his boyfriend's neck. "I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you" he whispered.

"It's okay. You didn't hurt me. I'm just happy that you're safe and willing to live." His boyfriend whispered in reply.

**"Max, if you had to choose between life and death which would you choose?"**

**"I would choose life as long as you're included in it."**

"I'll always choose life with you over anything else. I love you so much Tala. For now and forever."

"I love you too Max. I'll always be here for you."

* * *

Anyone who actually managed to guess that it was Tala gets major brownie points since I didn't even know who it was when I started writing it. Probably not the best thing to admit. It was either Kai, Spencer, Bryan or Tala. Don't ask my thought process on finally pairing him with Tala. It's complicated and I don't fully understand it. Oh well. Please review! Pretty please! 

Tala: Just review so she'll shut up.

Hey!

Max: Don't be mean Tala.


End file.
